The 20 Biggest Offseason College Basketball Storylines

Louisville’s national title isn’t even a week old, but it’s already time to start looking ahead to next season. From coaching changes to roster makeovers, the offseason provides no shortage of stories to follow for fans of the nation’s top teams.

One of last year’s best squads, the Kansas Jayhawks, is in the unenviable position of replacing its entire starting lineup. Of course, that doesn’t mean that Bill Self’s team won’t have plenty of punch, both from returnees such as Perry Ellis and from Self’s pool of impressive recruits.

Herein, more on KU’s chances and the rest of the 20 hottest topics for offseason conversation in the college hoops world.

15. Will Chris Walker Be a Difference-Maker for Florida?

Florida’s hopes of repeating as SEC champs depend heavily on how well the Gators can replace starting big men Patric Young and Erik Murphy.

Top reserve Will Yeguete is a safe bet to handle one of those jobs, but the other is likely to fall to a newcomer: star freshman Chris Walker.

The 6’10” Walker is a sensational athlete who showed off impressive shot-blocking instincts in the McDonald’s All American game. If he can adapt to the college level quickly, Walker could be the biggest factor in keeping the Gators at the top of the heap.

14. Can Anyone in the Missouri Valley Challenge Wichita State?

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Wichita State thrust itself into the national picture with a stunning Final Four run. With fellow MVC power Creighton departing for the Big East, the Shockers are also in a great position to follow up that performance with a strong 2014 postseason.

Star forward Cleanthony Early leads a wealth of returning talent for Gregg Marshall’s team, which brings in another promising JUCO transfer to join Early in PF Earl Watson.

Meanwhile, Northern Iowa (the Shockers’ closest competitor last year among returning MVC squads) must replace three senior starters, not a great position from which to take on a tournament-tested team.

13. How Much Respect Will the New Big East Earn?

The fragmentation of the old Big East leaves both the AAC and the new version of the Big East in limbo, somewhere between a power conference and a mid-major.

The smaller population of the Big East (just 10 teams for next season) makes it particularly important for that league to get off to a good start to prove that it’s strong enough to stand on its own.

Both Georgetown (Otto Porter Jr.) and new arrival Creighton (Doug McDermott) are anxiously awaiting NBA decisions from their top stars. If both underclassmen declare for the draft, the Big East will have precious few big names on the floor.

Butler, Marquette and the Hoyas should do well enough either way to keep the conference competitive, but whether it can even outperform the similarly stripped-down Big 12 remains to be seen.

11. Which Current ACC Teams Will Get the Worst of Expansion?

Next year’s ACC adds Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame, three teams that earned bids to the 2013 NCAA tournament.

By sheer weight of numbers, that means that some existing ACC team is likely to get squeezed out of an at-large bid it would otherwise have earned.

Prime candidates include last year’s bubble teams from the conference, Virginia and Maryland, though the Terps will drop significantly if Alex Len leaves for the NBA.

Another team that’s clearly headed for a fall is erstwhile eighth-seed N.C. State, where Mark Gottfried’s reshuffled roster might earn just enough wins in a tough new conference to find itself in the First Four Out of next year’s field of 68.

9. Is T.J. McConnell the Answer at Arizona?

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Sean Miller has brought a second straight elite recruiting class to Tucson, leaving the Wildcats loaded up front. Multi-talented Nick Johnson returns to man the SG spot, leaving only point guard as a major question mark.

The front-runner for that role is Duquesne transfer T.J. McConnell, one of the country’s top defenders at 2.8 steals a game over his first two college seasons.

McConnell isn’t remotely the scorer that the graduated Mark Lyons was, but his superior ball-handling ability and passing instincts might turn out to be even more valuable in the long run.

8. Will Rebuilding Kansas Manage to Win Yet Another Big 12 Title?

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The last time Kansas failed to win a regular-season conference title was 2004.

Next season’s Jayhawks will need to replace the entire starting lineup from the team that earned a No. 1 seed in the 2013 NCAA tournament, but even that may not be an obstacle to continuing the streak.

Bill Self has brought in yet another highly touted recruiting class, a group highlighted by McDonald’s All American Wayne Selden in the backcourt.

Coupled with high-powered returnees such as PF Perry Ellis and PG Naadir Tharpe, that group could well be enough to come out on top in a conference with no clear front-runner for next season.

6. Who Will Rule Tobacco Road?

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Year in and year out, few rivalries have more impact on the national college hoops scene than Duke-North Carolina. Next season’s edition will be especially unpredictable as both teams will likely be recovering from the loss of their biggest stars.

The Blue Devils have the more impressive recruiting class (led by Jabari Parker), but the Tar Heels are expected to return more proven productivity from P.J. Hairston and Reggie Bullock.

Roy Williams’ squad also has the biggest X-factors in this calculation: Will James Michael McAdoo return for his junior year (unlikely) and will prize recruit Andrew Wiggins come to Chapel Hill (very possible)?

3. How Will Louisville Handle Having a Bulls-Eye on Its Chest?

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There are a lot of unknowns surrounding which underclassmen will or won’t return for the defending champion Cardinals, but there’s little doubt Rick Pitino’s team will be one of the nation’s best again.

2. Where Will Andrew Wiggins Sign?

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Andrew Wiggins, son of former NBA reserve Mitchell, is the No. 1 recruit in next year’s freshman class. He’s also a major unknown in the balance of power, as he hasn’t yet declared which school will have the benefit of his one year of college hoops.

The versatile SF (who played sensationally at the McDonald’s All America game) has several schools still in contention, among them Kentucky, North Carolina and Florida State (his parents’ alma mater).

It’s largely a crapshoot at this stage, but the prediction here is that his bloodlines will send Wiggins to Tallahassee, where he’ll make the Seminoles instantly relevant in the ACC again.

1. How Dangerous Is Reloaded Kentucky?

From the offseason hype Kentucky is getting, you’d never know the Wildcats’ last game was a massive upset loss to Robert Morris in the NIT.

A popular pick for the top ranking in early preseason polls, UK has an astounding six McDonald’s All Americans arriving to join the high-powered freshmen who stayed around from last year’s roster.

The latter group includes versatile forward Alex Poythress and towering Willie Cauley-Stein in the middle. They’ll get ample support from the Harrison twins (including star PG Andrew) as well as yet another prime big man, 6’9” Julius Randle.